tvN Loads up on Korean Blockbusters, iQiyi Int’l Focuses on Southeast Asia – Global Bulletin

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTerapin Studios, a U.S.-Korean media investor backed by NPX Capital, has paid $160 million to acquire Toomics Global, one of South Korea’s fastest rising platforms for webtoons.Webtoons, vertically-scrolling comic strips designed to be viewed on smartphones, emerged in South Korea about 15 years ago and have become a major cultural phenomenon across Japan, Korea and much of Southeast Asia.Webtoons have also been the form of IP underlying many Korean film and TV hits, including Netflix’s “All of Us Are Dead” and “Itaewon Class,” Disney+’s “Moving” and “Dr Brain” for Apple TV+.Netflix is also on course to produce a series, “Black Knight,” based on Toomics’ original webtoon IP “Delivery Knight.” The sci-fi miniseries, starring A-list actor Kim Woo Bin (“Alienoid”), is expected to premiere this year. The Terapin-Toomics deal follows a February 2022 acquisition that saw Terapin buy Copin Communications, a Korean webtoon producer.The two deals together are expected to give Terapin the capacity to take its stable of cartoon creators further into international markets and the ability to negotiate deals for its IP in multiple related or ancillary markets, from animated film and TV, to books, games, merchandize and NFTs.“A [third party] Korean production company is working with Netflix on ‘Black Knight’,” Samuel Hwang, founder and CEO of NPX Capital, told Variety.

Marta Balaga Karim Ouelhaj’s fourth feature ‘Megalomaniac’ – about to world premiere at Fantasia – has been sold to South Korea’s Youngjin Creative, Japan’s STS Ent and Latin America’s Encripta, with Indeed Film handling German-speaking territories.Media Move handles world sales with XYZ in charge of North America.Ouelhaj is also about to wrap principal photography on his new feature “Le Pont des Fiévreux.” Described by producer Florence Saâdi as a “fantastic thriller tinged with horror,” it follows the journey of antihero Scola, lost between madness and purgatory. The film’s structure is inspired by 1990 release “Jacob’s Ladder.”“It’s the craziest movie I have ever made,” teased the Belgian helmer, who also descends into madness in “Megalomaniac,” produced by Okayss and Les Films du Carré.

Chinese streaming giant iQiyi has announced a slate of 33 Chinese original productions, including Pledge Of Allegiance, a sequel to hit martial arts film Brotherhood Of Blades, and an adaptation of hot Chinese sci-fi writer Liu Cixin’s Ball Lightning.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Asian Contents and Film Market, the industry component of the Busan International Film Festival, is to launch an in-person story market at this year’s event.The ACFM has for ten years operated what it called an Entertainment Intellectual Property Market. But where the E-IP Market has been a one-way pitching event, the new Busan Story Market is conceived as something functionally closer to a conventional rights market, with buyers and sellers meeting at sales booths, but trading books, webtoons, web novels, games, and stories.The Busan Story Market is an outgrowth of the E-IP event and will operate in addition to the continuing pitching sessions.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefKorean streaming platforms Tving and Seezn have announced plans to merge. The consolidation move is seen as a means to counter the dominance of Netflix, which is by far the largest subscription video player in the country.The move was unveiled in two regulatory filings by KT Studio Genie, the media unit of telecoms operator KT Studio Genie, owner of Seezn, and by CJ ENM, the 57% majority owner of TVing.The merger is intended to “strengthen the over-the-top (OTT) platform competitiveness within the domestic media and contents industry, and accelerate the growth of K-contents,” KT Studio Genie said.Tving CEO Yang Ji-eul said the enlarged entity aims to become the world’s No.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Asian Cinema Fund, a bursary scheme for film and documentary projects operated alongside the Busan International Film Festival, has announced six Korean recipients and seven hailing from elsewhere in Asia. The fund was put on hiatus during the two years of COVID, which also reduced the festival in size and turned the Asian Contents & Film Market into a virtual event. Three winners – “In the Land of Brothers,” by Raha Amirfazali, “Life I Stole,” by Putri Purnama Sugua and “Smart City,” by Rohin Raveendran – each receive KRW10 million ($7,50) for script development and are invited to participate in the ACFM’s Asian Project Market.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMixing “Jason Bourne” and “Mission: Impossible” adrenalin rushes with Korean cool, Netflix is teasing high octane footage of “Carter,” its first Korean original movie of the second half of the year.The action plays out two months into a deadly pandemic originating from the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. The outbreak has already devastated the U.S. and North Korea.

Sony has decided to push Devotion to Wednesday, Nov. 23, as a wide release.

TV industry veteran David Madden, who most recently served as President of Berlanti Productions, has been named Head of Global Entertainment at Wattpad Webtoon Studios, the global entertainment and publishing arm for Webtoon and Wattpad.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWildBrain CPLG, a leading entertainment, sport and brand-licensing agency, has been appointed by Peanuts Worldwide as the exclusive licensing agent for the Peanuts brand in parts of Asia-Pacific.   The companies already have a licensing relationship in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and, more recently, India.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Top Gun Maverick” flew even higher on its second weekend at the Korean box office, holding on to the top spot and fractionally increasing its gross take. The sky-high performance was more than enough to overshadow the otherwise promising opening of Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave.”“Top Gun Maverick” earned $9.72 million between Friday and Sunday, with a 59% market share, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area” has become Netflix’s latest Korean-made international hit. The Korean remake of “La Casa de Papel” (aka “Money Heist”) is in first place on the streaming giant’s Global Non-English top ten chart over the last week.The series premiered on Friday (June 24), meaning that it only had three days to claim its spot in chart that covers the period June 20-26.

Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area has topped Netflix’s Global Top 10 list of most-watched non-English shows for the week.According to data from the streaming platform, Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area was the most-viewed non-English show for the week of June 20 to 26, logging 33.7million hours viewed.That figure also places the brand-new K-drama series as the third most-watched show on the streaming platform overall, only bested by the fourth season of Stranger Things (76.9million hours viewed) and the newly released third season of The Umbrella Academy.Elsewhere on this week’s rankings of the most-watched Netflix shows, K-drama Our Blues ranked eighth on the non-English list with 9.2million hours viewed. It is the series’ ninth week on the list since its premiere in April.Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area is a South Korean remake of the Spanish series of the same name, and premiered on Netflix on June 24.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWarner Bros. Discovery has partnered with energy company Shell for an adrenaline-filled show, “Dare to Ride,” that has begun airing on Discovery in Southeast Asia and India. “Dare to Ride” showcases some of Asia’s most accomplished riders as they attempt to conquer the region’s most iconic routes with just their bikes, their wits, and their technical knowhow.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures is set to remake critically acclaimed South Korean crime thriller The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil with original star Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok) reprising his lead role as a gang boss looking for redemption in the studio’s U.S. version.

Refresh for latest…: A wild weekend was had at the global and international box office with major milestones for Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick and Universal/Amblin’s Jurassic World Dominion, as well as a $50.5M result from Warner Bros’ newcomer, Elvis.

EXCLUSIVE: Well Go USA Entertainment has expanded its slate of Korean films, acquiring North American rights to titles including Alienoid, Hansan: Rising Dragon, Gangnam Zombie, The Ghost Station and The Assassin. While the international and indie distributor has set theatrical releases in place for Alienoid and Hansan, plans for the other three films have not yet been finalized. 

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterParamount’s blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” is still flying at sky-high altitudes, surpassing $900 million at the global box office.With $901.8 million in the bank, the sequel to Tom Cruise’s 1986 action flick “Top Gun” stands as the year’s second-highest grossing movie worldwide behind Disney’s Marvel adventure “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($943 million). At this rate, “Maverick” is poised to overtake the crown in the coming weeks.Even without playing in China or Russia, the $1 billion mark looks to be within reach.